Airport, Lithuania, Tourism, Transport

"We recorded a decline in passenger numbers in July, however, airports of Lithuania posted a 15-percent growth in the first half of the year," Gediminas Almantas, CEO of Lietuvos Oro Uostai (Lithuanian Airports), the operator of the airports of Vilnius, Kaunas and Palanga, said in a press release.

After the start of runway reconstruction at the Vilnius airport in early July, the Lithuanian capital's airport was closed, with the majority of flights moved to Kaunas. Ireland's Ryanair was the only airline not to move any flights to Kaunas, while other companies didn't move all of their flights.

In July, Vilnius Airport posted a decline in passenger traffic by a factor of 2.8 to 136,200, while passenger numbers at Kaunas Airport soared by a factor of 3.4 to 235,800 and those at Palanga Airport surged by 35% to 35,900 passengers. The number of flights fell by a factor of 2.6 in Vilnius to 1,417, surged by a factor of 3.2 in Kaunas to 2,334 and rose by 17% in Palanga to 582.

Over the seven months of 2017, all three airports handed 2.959 million passengers, a rise by 10% year-on-year, while the number of flights went up by 7% to 31,900.

The three airports handled a total of 4.8 million passengers in the full year 2016.